2013 Ennies

The nominations for the 2013 Ennies awards are now up.
http://www.ennie-awards.com/blog/2013-ennie-awards-nominees/

Here are some random thoughts.

Best Adventure
Achtung! Cthulhu – Three Kings (Chronicle City/Modiphius Entertainment)
Deadlands Reloaded: The Last Sons (Pinnacle Entertainment)
Enemy Within (Fantasy Flight Games)
Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition (Paizo Publishing)
The Zalozhniy Quartet (Pelgrane Press)

Outside of Rise of the Runeloards I don't have any of these.

Best Aid/Accessory
All We Have Forgotten—Music for Ashen Stars (Pelgrane Press)
Night’s Watch (Green Ronin)
The One Ring Loremaster’s Screen & Lake-town Sourcebook (Cubicle 7)
Protodimension Magazine Issue 13 (Kinstaff Media LLC)
The Unspeakable Oath (Arc Dream Publishing)

Nothing here either.

Best Art, Cover
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
The Magnificent Joop van Ooms (Lamentations of the Flame Princess)
NPC Codex (Paizo Publishing)
The Whole Hole Volume 01: Keister Island (Mutha Oith Creations)

The OSR is represented in Raggi's adventure-not-an-adventure in Joop van Ooms.

Best Art, Interior
Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms (Wizards of the Coast)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)
Night’s Watch (Green Ronin)
Shadows of Esteren Book 1 (Agate Editions)
The Whole Hole Volume 01: Keister Island (Mutha Oith Creations)

First of only 2 products from WotC this year.

Best Blog
Gnome Stew
The Illuminerdy
Nerd Trek
Triumph and Despair
The Rogue Warden

Gnome stew is doing quite well this year!

Best Cartography
Ancient Temple Interior (DramaScape)
Deep Blues: Nautilus (0One Games)
Drake Starship Map (Blackwyrm Games)
The Lands of Ice and Fire (Random House)
Sprawl Sites: High Society and Low Life (Catalyst Game Labs)

Best Electronic Book
Curse the Darkness (Growling Door Games, Inc.)
Deadlands Reloaded: The Last Sons (Pinnacle Entertainment)
The Deadly Seven (paNik productions)
Experimental Paradigm of Cinematic Horror (EPOCH) (Imaginary Empire)
Hobomancer (Hex Games)

Best Family Game
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space—11th Doctor Edition (Cubicle 7)
Hero Kids—Fantasy RPG (Hero Forge Games)
Mermaid Adventures (Third Eye Games)
Project Ninja Panda Taco (Jennisodes)
Wandering Monsters High School (Bold Pueblo Games)

I have all of these, all are great..

Best Free Game
Mazes and Perils RPG (WG Productions)
Phantasm (2010) (End Transmission Games LLC)
Nights of the Crusades (Aetheric Dreams)
Silent Memories (Morning Skye Studio)
Throwigames Simple Roleplaying System (Throwigames)

M&P is up for the OSR.  The 3rd Ed is an improvement over the 1st ed.

Best Free Product
Battletech: A Time of War Quick-Start Rules/Shadowrun Quick-Start Rules (Catalyst Game Labs)
EPOCH: Road Trip (Imaginary Empire)
Fools Rush In (Privateer Press)
Night in the Seyvoth Manor (Darklight Interactive)
Wayfinder #8 (Paizo Fans United)

The Shadowrun Quick start is my favorite of this list.

Best Game
Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (North Wind Adventures, LLC)
Broken Rooms (Greymalkin Designs, LLC)
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)

Best Miniature
Dungeon Command: Blood of Gruumsh (Wizards of the Coast)
Freeblades: Black Rose Bandits (DGS Games)
Pathfinder Battles: Shattered Star Gargantuan Blue Dragon (WizKid Games/NECA)
Pathfinder Bestiary Box (Paizo Publishing)
Spot of Bother Set One: Royal Highland Guards (Okumart Games)

I rather enjoyed both the Dungeon Command game (played at Gen Con) and the Pathfinder Bestiary Box.

Best Monster/Adversary
Champions Villains Vol. 3: Solo Villains (Hero Games)
DC Adventures Heroes & Villains Vol. 2 (Green Ronin)
Inner Sea Bestiary (Paizo Publishing)
Mutants and Masterminds Threat Report (Green Ronin)
NPC Codex (Paizo Publishing)

All of these are good.

Best Podcast
Atomic Array
Indie Talks
Haste: The Official Obsidian Portal Podcast
TableTop: Dragon Age
Transmissions from the Ninth World

I am only familiar with Atomic Array.

Best Production Values
Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (North Wind Adventures, LLC)
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space—11th Doctor Edition (Cubicle 7)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Rimward (Posthuman Studios)
Shadows of Esteren Book 1 (Agate Editions)

AS&SH another OSR book. And a great looking one at that.  Doctor Who though is just fantastic.

Best RPG Related Product
Edition Wars (Gamer Nations Studios)
Eighth Day Genesis: A Worldbuilding Codex for Writers and Creatives (Alliteration Ink)
The Express Diaries (Innsmouth House Press)
Kobold Guide to Wordbuilding (Kobold Press)
The Lands of Ice and Fire (Random House)

Best Rules
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Dungeon World (Sage Kobold Productions)
Experimental Paradigm of Cinematic Horror (EPOCH) (Imaginary Empire)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)

Another set of good choices.  I didn't play any of these though.

Best Setting
Broken Rooms (Greymalkin Designs, LLC)
Magnimar: City of Monuments (Paizo Publishing)
Menzoberranzen: City of Intrigue (Wizards of the Coast)
Midgard Campaign Setting (Kobold Press)
Mythic Iceland (BRP/Chaosium)

Make that 3 noms for WotC.  The Mythic Iceland book is fantastic.

Best Software
The Crawler’s Companion (Purple Sorcerer Games)
Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia (E-book Edition) (Arc Dream Publishing)
Dice & Dragons – 3D Dice Roller (simpleFun)
PCGen (PCGen)
Roll20 (The Orr Group, LLC)

I didn't use any CharacterGEn or gaming software all year.

Best Supplement
Dark Roads & Golden Hells (Kobold Press)
Doctor Who: The Time Traveler’s Companion (Cubicle 7)
Night’s Watch (Green Ronin)
Menzoberranzen: City of Intrigue (Wizards of the Coast)
Shadowrun 2050 (Catalyst Game Labs)

The Time Traveler's companion is very good.

Best Website
Adventure-A-Week
The Escapist
Gnome Stew
Modus Operandi
See Page XX

Not sure what separates something from being the Best Blog or Best Website (other than the obvious) but Gnome Stew made both lists.

Best Writing
Doctor Who: The Time Traveler’s Companion (Cubicle 7)
Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding (Kobold Press)
Never Unprepared: Guide to Session Prep (Engine Publishing)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)
Wolsung Steam Pulp Fantasy (Kuźnia Gier/Studio 2 Publishing)

Product of the Year
Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (North Wind Adventures, LLC)
Broken Rooms (Greymalkin Designs, LLC)
Champions Complete (Hero Games)
Doctor Who: The Time Traveler’s Companion (Cubicle 7)
Experimental Paradigm of Cinematic Horror (EPOCH) (Imaginary Empire)
Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
Menzoberranzen: City of Intrigue (Wizards of the Coast)
Night’s Black Agents (Pelgrane Press)
NPC Codex (Paizo Publishing)
Shadows of Esteren Book 1 (Agate Editions)

This one is always a hard call.  Nice to see AS&SH there.

Judges’ Spotlight Winners
Hooper - Leviathans (Catalyst Game Labs)
Matthew Muth - School Daze (Sand & Steam Productions)
Jakud Nowosad – Deniable Asset (Random Encounters)
Megan Robertson - Killshot: Director’s Cut (Broken Ruler Games)
Kurt Wiegel – Eldritch Skies (Battlefield Press, Inc.)

Nice to see Eldritch Skies get a nod.  I read through the drafts of it for Cine Unisystem content.